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This weekend George Diaz (of Latino Laughter renown) was kind enough to share a anecdote from his childhood with me. Those of you who have the pleasure of making George’s acquaintance probably know his tales are rarely of the Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm variety. The story I heard this Friday was no exception: it was about how a cockroach managed to crawl into his ear as a child and he had to go to a doctor to get it removed. The doctor not only extracted this critter with a pair of tweezers but also went to the trouble of stomping on it so George and his mother could see all the blood it had consumed.

As you can probably imagine the previous was not something I wanted to hear about while eating a taco. Noting my disgust George apologized. Nonetheless, for the past 48 hours I have been unable purge the previous imagery from my mind. It is now and (probably) forever seared into my memory. What’s more, it’s pretty damned gross. Probably more disgusting (although not by much) as this little bit of footage from Manhattan Avenue today. Enjoy!Bon apetit!

It would appear that we humans are not the only ones deluged with holiday leftovers.

Is it just me or is it sort of disturbing that this pigeon is (more or less) eating one of its own kind?

When one reads about a temporary worker being trampled to death by a horde of eager Walmart goers it is easy enough to forget that this is upcoming holiday season isn’t just about pommeling total strangers for a widescreen television to place under the Christmas tree. It is also the time many of us drink ourselves silly and our fellow friends of the book celebrate Hanukkah. For those of you who are among the latter and plan to engage in the previous (humanity may differ in their mode of worship but we all have one thing in common: one can only handle so much “family togetherness”) the following items might be of interest. Enjoy!

Oenophiles will undoubtedly find this item of interest: a menorah cork. Simply put, you place the cork in a wine or “any other sturdy bottle” and you’re good to go! This item can be found at none other than Fred Flare.

Let’s suppose for a moment that the previous item is a little too labor intensive for your taste. Procuring a wine/malt liquor/other bottle and affixing the “menorah cork” to it in the prescribed manner takes up too much of your valuable time. You want your booze and menorah in one convenient package. If so, I have some very good news.

The above item is available at T & N Wine And Liquor. I have been told it is brandy from either Armenia or Georgia. No word on whether or not it is any good. But as the Mister always says:

If it doesn’t make you blind you can always use it for paint thinner.

T & N Wine And Liquor
893 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11222

If anyone tries this product by all means share your review. My curiosity is killing me (but not enough so as to offer myself as a guinea pig).

It would appear that Santa and his little helpers are busy dismantling what is arguably the ugliest building in Queens and possibly the entire city. I suspect I speak for many when I say goodbye and good riddance.

These photographs hail from the 61st Street stop of the 7 train. While the Mister and I were waiting for the local (to take us to Jackson Heights) I became enamored of the lamp posts at this station. Since I had plenty of time on my hands I shot some snaps of them. Enjoy!

G train patrons are used to getting the shaft. Once we had not just the G but also the GG. The previous was an express line, the latter was local. As you can see nowadays it’s all local —and soon to be even even more so. A reader of mine wrote:

…did you see this thing about the g-train? What does halved G service mean? Half as many trains or half as many stops? I assume this means Greenpoint’s gentrification is essentially over?

Does this surprise me? Hardly. The MTA has harbored a hard-on to cut off service to Forest Hills for a very long time. Given the Solomon-like wisdom the our rapid transit system exercises I suspect they’ll cut G train riders in half and demand $1.25 a ride for ransom. The same goes for (J)M(Z) trainers. What happens in working class Brooklyn doesn’t matter. Keeping up appearances in Manhattan (for the turistas) is what’s important. Priorities folks, priorities.

The previsou having been said we Crosstown Locals have one thing to be can be proud of: finest subway announcer I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. The MTA can cut service and up subway fares all they want but if they fire this dude I’ll be PISSED. ROYALLY.

As the Mister and I were knocking around Jackson Heights yesterday we noticed the absolutely breathtaking sunset. We were not able to get a photograph of it. Thankfully Greenpoint’s very own mugsniffer did. He writes:

View from my Greenpoint apartment, now marred by the bulky EDGE building along the waterfront.

Regardless it’s a damned nice photo. You can see more great Greenpoint imagery a la mugsniffer by clicking here.